Just the Beginning
by RedDeath1996
Summary: Coulson and the team try and track down Ward after the events of Turn, Turn, Turn. What better way to find Ward then through his past. They track down Ward's brother his only living relative. First Fanfiction, so try not to kill me. The story is a lot better than the summary.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of Shield, or anything to do with Marvel. All characters except for a few are Marvels.

"Specialist Jonathan Nathaniel Ward, sir?" Captain James Smith asked the man. The man's hair line was starting to back up, but he seemed to just be in his middle thirties maybe beginning forties. He had a slim build to himself, definitely not out of shape, but you wouldn't peg him as a working-out-a-holic. He wore a simple black suit that could have been a suit for James Bond. He wore black shades, and had an aura of urgency that surrounded the slightly built man like a viper strangling its prey. If the young Captain had to guess, this man was in some serious trouble.

"Yes, Captain. I need to borrow Specialist Ward for just a few hours." The man replied looking around the room as if he were asserting where all the threats were. His office wasn't anything fancy, or even an office. It was a tent outside of town with the rest of his men's tents. It held his makeshift bed, some cooking supplies and utensils, a lantern, a few books on his trunk that held a few extra uniforms that he used as a nightstand, and a foldable table he used as a place to put important paperwork and maps with a steel, foldable table. Everything inside was green, except his steel cooking appliances and supplies, his table, chair, and nightstand.

"I'm sorry, but what was your name again? You said you were family, but I know Corporal Ward personally, and he has no family. There's that, and the fact that we're in Afghanistan, sir. How the hell did you get a pass to come here, just to have a talk with my lowly Specialist?" The young Captain asked the man. He rose from his chair, pulling out his pistol from his holster. His uniform at the current moment held of him in his camouflaged pants, a brown t-shirt, and his brown boots. His dog tags were hidden underneath his shirt, but considering the time this man just barged into his tent, he was happy he was wearing that.

"Phil Coulson, Captain. And while I may not be direct bloodline, I was really close to a brother he has. And I may have that pass because of the fact that I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now are you going to show me to Specialist Ward, or am I going to have to go through the trouble of waking up your entire company to find this one man at two in the morning?" Agent Coulson said.

Captain Smith felt like he just got stuck between a rock and a hard place. Cooperating now would insure that H.Y.D.R.A. would definitely attack the United States, but if he didn't, S.H.I.E.L.D., whatever is left of it at least, would get the U. S. back eventually. Smith was tempted to call up Major Brown and ask him what he was supposed to do when Specialist Ward, Sergeant Rivera, Private First Class Ross, Private Ross, and Staff Sergeant Williams came running into his tent. All were panting and out of breathe with wide eyes, all together were signs that this was just the beginning of his bad morning.

"Sir, H.Y.D.R.A. is here! They want to do a search of the compound and confiscate all our weapons," Reported Staff Sergeant Williams, reverting straight to the position of attention while all the others were still catching their breaths from their sprint to the command tent. Her usual straight, blonde, in regulation hair was starting to fuzz up a bit, her eyes already bloodshot from being up since 6 in the morning yesterday, and her slender body was beginning to shake at the prospect of her current situation. As she told the situation to Smith, her M-4 dropped to her knees from the exhaustion of patrol and sleep deprivation started to get to her.

Smith looked up towards the sky. "Is that all you've got to throw at me today, or are you just getting started?" He liked to randomly ask the sky questions. He felt like it was his personal connection to God, and eventually God would answer just out of pure annoyance of his persistence.

"Unfortunately, sir, it isn't. They want us to surrender and join in their ranks, sir." Sergeant Rivera said. His usual calm demeanor gone, replaced with one of worry. "They outnumber us at least twenty to one, sir, if not more. They also happened to be armed to the teeth, between artillery guns and the whole shebang, sir." The young Hispanic looked toward the Captain.

"For the love of God, please let this report be done." The Captain asked the sky.

"Not quite, sir," Reported Specialist Ward, "they've got tanks, ten of these tanks, sir. And they seem to love those tanks because, sir, they glow in the dark. I'm not sure why, or what purpose the glow has or if that's what they're shooting at us with, but it seemed noteworthy."

"Well, Specialist, I've got two things to say to you. First, that glow in the dark tank horseshit is something you should tell me. Second, is actually a question? Do you happen to have a brother? And if so, does he happen to know an Agent Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Smith smiled at Specialist Ward.

"Pardon, sir?" Specialist Ward asked clearly confused.

"You really do look a lot like your brother." Agent Coulson said to him. Even with his full combat gear on, Coulson could still see the resemblance. Heck, if he didn't know any better, he'd assume it was Grant Ward in the flesh. . He had the same dark brown eyes, with the same long face. The only difference between this Ward and Grant Ward would be that Specialist Ward used a lot of expressions. Grant wouldn't have let anyone else see that he was worried or that he doubted if something was important. He would just assume you would want to know everything.

"Excuse me suit, whom I'm assuming is this Agent Coulson, but both of my brothers are in the ground. Which one are you referring to so I can direct you to their grave and we can get back to the actually problem at hand?" Specialist Ward replied, though he couldn't meet Agent Coulson's gaze. In fact, he had closed off all expressions, and just glared at the sand between Coulson's feet.

"Coulson, we have to-" cried the girl that raced through the room until she saw Specialist Ward. She stopped right in front of the new Specialist that he had to back up a couple of steps just for some breathing room. Her long dark hair was all over the place. Her young, tan complexion couldn't hide the pain that hid behind her big, brown eyes.

"Ward." She stated his name as if it were the worst insult she could think of, and then continued to glare at him. "Who knew we'd find the traitor here. Is this where they hide all the cowards, or do they just take in every cockroach they find?" Every word felt like a blow to his chest, but he couldn't hide the truth of her words.

"No, this is where heroes come to protect your God forsaken freedom." Replied Staff Sergeant Williams. Her usual blue eyes had darkened like the sea when a storm is brewing. "So why don't you take that attitude and jump off a cliff with it. Specialist Ward has been a huge help here, and has saved countless lives. Can you say the same?"

"Saved lives!?" Cried the new girl towards Williams.

"Skye, it's not Ward. Not our Ward at least. He's his brother. Now, Captain, is there any way we can borrow him for the time being?" Agent Coulson asked.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of Shield.

Specialist Ward wanted to laugh just laugh as the duo continued to argue about what to do with him. He knew what to do. It wasn't going to be fun, but he knew what to do to help them on their way. The question would be if he could continue to still be an Army Ranger after all of this. Probably not, he thought.

"Why don't we just shoot this Ward? Obviously, they're close! Then our Ward would come running and we can capture him!" Skye shouted at Coulson.

"We don't do that to people, even Ward! We do things the right way, plus this Ward hasn't done anything wrong! We can't just start shooting people because they have the last name Ward!" Coulson told Skye, raising his voice just slightly enough for her to know that this was the plan, and no one was going against that plan.

"If you could stop calling him that, please," Specialist Ward said, barely louder than a whisper.

"My bad, we should call him Grant. This whole calling him our Ward and you the other Ward must be frustrating," Agent Coulson tried to say understandingly, but Specialist Ward just laughed.

"You assume just because you guys are Super-secret spies that you know everything about everyone. Stop assuming you know me. Stop assuming you know my name or where I came from, or how far along I've been on my road. Stop assuming my name is Jonathan Ward." The Specialist said, backing up.

"John," Staff Sergeant Williams asked, "what are you talking about? You told us all that's what your name has always been. We even asked if you changed it because you didn't seem like a John to us. Tell them that you were just kidding around when you said that stuff." She looked at him with hopeful eyes, but the Specialist couldn't meet her gaze. He had never wanted this to come up. He had wanted to die here, a hero. Die by the name he chooses, not by the name that was forced upon him.

"My name isn't Jonathan Ward. His name isn't Grant Ward. Stop calling me Ward, stop calling him Ward; it isn't our name. Hell, he barely considers me his brother, and the only reason he still gives me a call anymore is if I blew his cover. Obviously, I don't get those calls anymore. He and I stopped talking at least a year ago, when that whole thing at S.H.I.E.L.D. went down. I assumed he died, even went to his real grave to put flowers there." The Specialist answered his eyes bloodshot, and his hands trembling. The barrel of his rifle was shaking visibly from how much his hand were shaking. The Specialist was spent and tired of watching out for a brother who left him the moment he got the chance.

"Alright," Coulson said in a calming voice, "then why don't you introduce yourself to us. I'm sure you don't want to hurt anyone here, and I sure don't want to put on a show for HYDRA either. We could go to the Bus, together. Then you can tell us all about you and your brother."

"I don't think you understand the position I'm in, Agent Coulson. I just admitted to lying to the United States Army, which is a five year sentence in jail, faking all my records, which just adds on the jail time I'm doing, and if I were to talk about my older brother, I-" The Specialist tried to explain but just then First Sergeant Knight came in.

The man was a body builder, tall, with barely enough hair to realize it was brown. He had his Kevlar vest on, with his M-4 in hands. He had a profound face and just gave you a sense of intimidation. He looked over the group in the Command Tent, finally resting his eyes on the young Specialist.

"Who gave you the order to feel sorry for yourself, Specialist Ward?" Knight said, his deep voice screaming the challenge that all old Drill Sergeants give off in their voice.

"No one, First Sergeant, but-"the Specialist tried but again, got interrupted by the soldier.

"Then quite you're whining! We don't have time to hear you snivel about how hard life is right now! Right now, we need you to act like you were trained to act! We trained you to act like a Ranger, didn't we, Specialist?" Knight shouted at the young man.

"Aye, First Sergeant, but-"The Specialist responded but Knight wasn't done.

"Then you get your Ranger ass in gear, grab that SN-25 that you love so God Damn much, and you show those crazy Motherfuckers who the hell their dealing with! Because, Lord knows, they don't know! They assume this is some pansy ass little pussy platoon full of snot nose POGs! Show them that they are dealing with a force stronger than the demons in Hell!" Knight shouted at the Specialist. "Did I stutter, Specialist Ward, or do you have a hearing problem, because I can get louder, just for you Specialist Ward!"

"No, First Sergeant! Aye, First Sergeant! On my way, First Sergeant!" The Specialist shouted back, and then ran outside to the armory to grab his beloved weapon. The others just stared at the older NCO, not wanting to make him angrier, they stayed silent. "Obviously, because of all the looks I'm getting, someone here is going to explain to me, without looking like a damn fish, what the hell has gotten into Ward, and you all; and after that, Captain, I expect you to debrief me when Agent Coulson needs me to send him Ward."

"First Sergeant," Sergeant Rivera tried to say with some dignity, "Specialist Ward just admitted to faking his papers, First Sergeant. He shouldn't be in the Rangers, First Sergeant. He shouldn't even be in the Army, First Sergeant! He should be in jail, First Sergeant!"

"Well, until he gives me his new name, he will continue to be Specialist Jonathan Ward. And until I see FBI here to come and collect our Specialist Ward, he ain't going anywhere but back to the frontlines! And some say you shouldn't be in the Rangers either, Sergeant Rivera, so watch what you say around me. I might just send you back to South Korea, where I send the rest of the men who piss me off. Now, get out, grab your weapon, get the rest of your squad, wake Sergeant Williams from her day dream of kissing Ward, and move your asses to the front line with Ward. I've got a mission for your squad, and it's just up your alley. Coulson, do you mind if we keep Ward around for one more night? We need him to help stick a grenade right up those bastard's noses. Hell, if you want, you can stick around for the fireworks."

Coulson looked over at Skye for half a second before looking back at Knight and grinning. "Wouldn't mind at all as long as we get to help out on this mission."


End file.
